We almost didn't go on this paddle! We got together with some friends Saturday morning, and thought the weather was not favorable for a paddle. The sky looked very ominous, with the threat of rain and hail (both were visitors the previous two days.) But, sunbursts broke through the purple clouds a few times, there was no wind, and that was invitation enough for me. I said, "Lets give it a try."
This trip I brought both video and still camera, with batteries charged, and a new cassette in the cam corder. I'll have to say that because it was so late in the day, the colors were very deep. From start to finish, I had images of dramatic sky and still water, quaint little cabins, fishermen in houseboats, and everything supremely tranquil. Even the waved greetings from fishermen seemed slow, and so welcoming. It was a blissful little lake.
I thought, if I could have a cabin, it would be here, on Lawrence Lake. I could just imagine something nestled in the woods, a fire going, and a nice bowl of hot chilli and bread.
We paddled around a corner of the lake, and we saw something exactly as I had imagined, only it was all boarded up, no smoke coming out of the chimney, and it looked like it had been abandoned years ago. Or, maybe it was a fort or hide-out for a bunch of kids. Blackberry brambles covered the walls, moss lined the roof, and the front door was wide open. It was rather a shame, because on this little corner of the shoreline there was a most exquisite view of the mountains. Someone long ago had surely picked a perfect spot for a cabin.
Our paddle lasted about two hours, with the redwinged blackbirds calling back and forth - and the frogs too.... a virtual symphony of chatter and croaks along the cattails. This is a 339 acre rainbow and brown trout lake, with carp who swim away in a rush of violent, swirling water. Other than that, the water rippled only as George's paddle dipped into it.
I filmed the entire paddle, with breaks to capture only the highlights. About a 30 minute film, it is the most beautiful of anything I've yet done. Most striking were the silver swirls in the water, laced by playful swirls of deep purple whirls. Each time George put his paddle in the water it changed the patterns.
